…upon which my writing thoughts gaze with proud intent; yet are held fast by perfectionist inaction…

Nah.

Here we go anyway!

And that’s my mantra for those of us wanting to break through whatever blank page we are staring at – whether the unknown change ahead of us – or a new blog.

So, to begin, a little background and to introduce myself: I am an Executive Partner in Gartner Executive Programs where I have the opportunity to work with CIOs every day in addressing and helping define their top priorities. Over the last several years, I have seen those priorities expand from managing technology efficiently to dealing more with rapid change and accelerating demands from all parts of the extended organization – many times unknown to the CIO – for increasingly sophisticated access to people and information; all to help everyone navigate that change. As a result, a whole new set of CIO management issues have emerged around leadership, business risk and value, organization, and connecting with stakeholders. The purpose of this blog will be to consider the ramifications of this change and how CIOs are “filling in the blanks”.

To make this tangible I will be tapping and sharing the real-world examples I am seeing and hearing across my CIO and extended community where these transformations are taking place. The goal will be to observe in real-time the emerging trends and patterns as they take shape so that we can compare to our own planning as well as bring immediate perspective to our day-day decision-making and actions.

With that in mind, let me know what you are seeing and if there are any other patterns or trends we should be capturing. I look forward to sharing my first observations with you and getting your feedback.

Meanwhile, you can also follow me on Twitter for shorter yet more “expansive” takes on this theme (and where the blank page isn’t so large and foreboding).

Thor Madsen is an executive partner with Gartner Executive Programs, supporting CIO clients. His primary areas of focus are executive communication strategies, innovation and the evolution of IT. Read Full Bio

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